I’ve been reading a lot of Meg Keene’s A Practical Wedding, and in general just thinking about how to better marry my business and core beliefs, so in the next few weeks I’d like to offer some recommendations, of my own, on wedding planning. In no way will this be a comprehensive guide, or do you need to take it all to heart, but I hope it helps. Most of my advice will be based on Victoria weddings, as that is the primary market I serve, but I hope that some of the advice is universal.

This week I will start by re-posting what I wrote for Home for the Honeymoon:

Although I really don’t consider myself an expert on weddings or marriage, I have been married a year-and-a-half now, and in the last three years I have attended over 40 weddings, so I do have some experience.

As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen a range of weddings…. From the simple and frugal to the all out GLAM, and I love the variety in seeing what people do for their big day.  I think it is great that couples haven’t lost sight of the fact that you really can do whatever you want.

If you are a bit of a traditionalist, you are free to go to the chapel and get married.  However, if you want to break out of the box and walk barefoot on a beach somewhere far away from home, then you should be able to do that too – guilt-free!

All weddings are going to follow a general format:  Get married, take some photos, eat something and have a party.  That said, there is a lot you can do to make your wedding feel personal.  The important thing is to show off who you are as a couple.  You really can do whatever you want!  Truly!

The only legal requirement at your wedding is signing your marriage license. (And you can even do that beforehand or after the fact!)  You have absolute free reign for the rest of it!  However, you should never feel like being different means you have to break the bank planning a ton of details.

One of the things that makes a wedding stick out from the rest is when a couple approaches a traditional aspect in a fresh new way.  This doesn’t mean a ton of DIY details or vintage-style décor, it can be as simple as having a custom drink that reflects something special about you as a couple.

At one wedding I recently shot, the couple served beer-geritas (I’ll let you figure that one out – I’d never heard of them before either, but they were delicious)!  Another wedding I photographed was an afternoon picnic in the park.  And at one wedding, in a church no less, the bride walked down the aisle barefoot… In fact, she didn’t wear shoes the entire day!

A dear friend of mine got married this past summer and I had the honor of photographing it. One of the things that I loved about Anita’s wedding was that every part of it was a reflection of her and her husband.  In some ways, her wedding was similar to other modern weddings, but she found unique ways to do her own thing as well.

My favorite deviation from the norm was instead of eating cake, my friend and her husband made an ice cream sundae together instead.  Why not?  If you don’t like wedding cake, or you are part of the growing population of people who find themselves skipping flour due to gluten intolerance, maybe ice cream is a good substitute.

With so many wedding blogs out there, it can get really overwhelming to make decision.   But just because you see everyone else utilizing mason jars, burlap and ribbons in trees, it doesn’t mean you have to follow their lead….

One of the weddings that I am most looking forward to next summer is inZionNational Park. The couple is hiking up theNarrowsbut will spend zero dollars on ceremony décor because Mother Nature is taking care of it for them.  Sometimes Mother Nature really does know best!  If the weather is permitting at your ceremony location, why stress out and try to improve on something that is 4.5 billion years in the making?

In the same way that it is important to find a photographer that suits your style – and let’s be honest, your budget as well – my advice is to not feel pressured into doing something at your wedding that doesn’t reflect who you are.

I know it seems like there are a lot of wedding photographers who spend a lot their time ooohing and ahhhing over how great the details are at a wedding, but it really comes down to this: you, your spouse and the people you love and value and want to share your special moments with.

As a photographer, I am with you on your wedding day to chronicle the two of you in one of the most intimate and memorable moments you will ever experience.  Hopefully, when you look back on your wedding photos, you will remember that amazing feeling of being surrounded by all those people who love you and who want to be witnesses to a milestone in your life.

It really should be about the people you love, and not about stuff that dressed it all up.

Styling by Marion at Ma-Luxe :: Makeup by Carly Flint :: Video by Charlotte Wood :: Flowers by Tina at Platinum Floral Designs

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A huge thanks to Anita Sarrett for all her work in making Chasing Charlie look awesome! If you need design/branding work done, get in touch with her! Okay, stop reading and go check out some cute little wagging tails! Or head over to the new facebook page and give some love.

• January – CLOSED – this shouldn’t be surprising
• February – One spot available
• March - Two spots available
• April – One spot available
• May - Two spots available
• June – Three spots available – did you know there are FIVE Saturdays this year in June!
• July - Two spots available
• August - Two spots available (maybe only one)
• September - Three spots available (maybe only two)
• October – Two spots available
• November – One spot available
• December – CLOSED

Also, to anyone planning a wedding please check out these awesome (and totally FREE) spreadsheets that the awesome ladies at Lowe House Creative and A Practical Wedding have put together. Also, if you are looking for sane wedding advice you should check out A Practical Weddings site in general. They have some great vendor recommendations and Meg, who runs the blog, also just published a book (which I have ordered). She just released these shareable ads today, which I found highly amusing. This one was my fave:

And if you are getting married in California and really want to stay super sane on your wedding day hire Elizabeth from Lowe House Creative. She is a no nonsense gal who knows how to throw a killer party (I worked with her at Anita and Wayne’s wedding last summer).

One last note, I do have a separate calendar for non-wedding shoots, so please get in touch if you are interested.

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Okay, enough with the excuses. Long time blog readers may remember a shoot I did last year after my Grandmother passed away. Basically very shortly after Audrey passed Mere and I decided to play “dress-up” and did a little photoshoot in Audrey’s clothes.

Well, now that my Grandpa Les is gone we decided to do the same thing. “Dressing up” in your Grandpa’s clothes isn’t quite as fun as dressing up in Grandma’s, but acting a little bit grumpy was pretty fun. I should clarify that my Grandpa wasn’t always grumpy, but in the last year of life he got old, fast, and he wasn’t thrilled about it. Can’t say I blame him.

If I am in a photo it means Kevin took it, and it’s possible he took some of the other ones too. 

For any other Sacrementans interested in portraits, Senior or otherwise, I will be back in town the week before Christmas and a few dates this summer.

I had maybe one of the best Thanksgivings ever this year. I spent the first part of the weekend hanging out with my mom’s side of the family. This was the first time we were all together since my Grandpa passed away, and we had a good time remembering Grandpa and enjoying each other’s company. After dinner on Thursday we went into his room and started looking at some of the stuff he left behind. To our delight (sort of) we discovered that he had kept around 15 pairs of his glasses, all neatly labeled with either “fair,” “good,” or “poor” and the year. I thought it would be fun for all the Ayers progeny to put them on and make grumpy grandpa faces. So we did:

You may recognize one set of these glasses from the photo in this post, as well as the inspiration for grumpy faces.

The second half of the weekend was spent with my dad’s side of the family and I promise there are photos from there too, but right now there is dinner to be made. It was really great to see my cousins on my dad’s side of the family and I am even more excited to meet my first niece or nephew some time next year!

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but I want to say to my whole family that I love you all and it was amazing spending so much great time with you all this weekend. People are the best part of my life and I am eternally grateful that my family is the perfect combo of crazy and love.

Big hugs!

And Happy Monday.

P.S. For all you Canadians reading this, Senior Portraits are not in fact pictures of grandparent’s, but are photos taken during the Senior year of high school (grade 12).

Six weeks ago, I had the joy of working with five fabulous women and one dapper looking dude. The ladies over at Home for the Honeymoon asked me to help them shoot some promotional photos for their website and blog. It was a packed day full of laughs and a lot of fun. This shoot couldn’t have happened without a number of people, so big thanks to Carly Flint for helping with the makeup, Marion at ma-luxe studios for all her expertise in hair, make up and styling,  Tina from Platinum Floral Designs for the flowers, Tyler and Paige from Coultish Management,  Sheri from Victoria Bridal Boutique for letting us use a great tea length dress, and Chris Gill over at the Condo Group for allowing us use of an amazing condo. Here are a few out takes from the day, and even more can be found over on the Home for the Honeymoon blog.